Learn about

Bin collection times - why that time of day?

Bins are collected early in the morning. The reason for this is that the roads are quieter and we can avoid causing traffic and safety issues, especially around schools and main roads.

Domestic waste charge – what is it for?

The Domestic Waste Charge (DWC) is used to cover the cost of your waste's treatment and disposal. It also covers the cost of recycling your materials and your general clean-up collection. For the 2015/2016 FY, the charge is $447.10. This charge is itemised on your annual rates notice from Council.

Why care about waste generation and reduction?

The quick answer is, - to protect our environment! Almost everything we consume in our society has, at some stage, come from the environment that we live in. As our population expands, the environment is under lots of pressure to meet the demands of our growing society – that is, it is struggling to keep up with all the food we eat, and the products we keep buying!

Why care about waste generation and reduction?

The quick answer is, - to protect our environment! Almost everything we consume in our society has, at some stage, come from the environment that we live in. As our population expands, the environment is under lots of pressure to meet the demands of our growing society – that is, it is struggling to keep up with all the food we eat, and the products we keep buying! We also need to reduce waste because we are running out of room to put all of the waste that our society generates.

We can all help conserve available landfill space, and minimise the need to extract resources from the natural environment by following these waste reduction tips.

Be a smart shopper - avoid buying over-packaged items; buy items made from recycled content; buy less disposable items; ‘SAY NO’ to plastic bags; and don’t buy things you can live without.

Take advantage of local recycling programs for items not accepted in your recycle bin, such as plastic bags, mobile phones, printer cartridges and E-waste.

How is the waste treated and why care?

Every week when Council’s garbage truck leaves your suburb, it heads to the Eastern Creek Resource Recovery Park. Here, the rubbish is directed to the UR-3R for sorting/treatment. Residual waste (waste that can't be recycled or composted) from the UR-3R process is then disposed of into landfill. A landfill is basically a big hole in the ground (the fancy word for each hole is a ‘cell’), which is highly engineered to minimise the environmental impact of the waste that is buried there. Up until a few years ago...

How is the waste treated and why care?

Every week when Council’s garbage truck leaves your suburb, it heads to the Eastern Creek Resource Recovery Park. Here, the rubbish is directed to the UR-3R for sorting/treatment. Residual waste (waste that can't be recycled or composted) from the UR-3R process is then disposed of into landfill. A landfill is basically a big hole in the ground (the fancy word for each hole is a ‘cell’), which is highly engineered to minimise the environmental impact of the waste that is buried there. Up until a few years ago, landfill was the main, if not only, option for waste disposal in Sydney.

UR-3R is an Alternate Waste Technology Facility. This disposal option is considered ‘alternative’ because it offers a new and more sustainable solution to traditional disposal methods such as landfill. Put simply, bags of rubbish are processed at this facility to remove any recyclables and organic material (like food scraps and garden waste) so they can be recycled and composted respectively. Any residual waste is then sent to landfill. This greatly reduces the volume of waste that we are disposing of! Since 2012, all waste collected from households in the Holroyd City Council area is taken to this facility and only the residual is buried in landfill.

Just because this process removes recyclables and organics from your garbage bin, it is not an excuse to get lazy with using your recycling bin to its full potential! Just consider this as a back up plan. We still need you to do your best to sort it out at home!

Why don’t we have a green waste bin?

This is a question we get asked a lot, so we thought we'd better set the record straight! For now, Council will not be introducing a separate bin (in the former Holroyd area) for green waste recovery because the UR-3R (AWT) facility - where all material in our garbage bins is processed, - ensures the recovery of these green/organic resources. In fact, it requires the quantity of green waste offered by our Council in order to operate more efficiently. To introduce a new green collection system would be costly to Council, (and ultimately our ratepayers!), whereas the existing processing arrangement will allow for the removal of these resources and conversion into compost, without burdening residents with additional truck movements and expenses. It should be stated, however, that as future disposal arrangements are negotiated and new technology emerges this situation may change – we will just have to wait and see!

For more information about the UR-3R facility, and how it removes green/organic resources from the waste stream, visit this website.

Contact

Give us a call

If you still have a question, we are happy to have a chat. Call our Customer Services section on 9840 9840 and just let them know what it’s about so they can best direct you to the right person in our team.

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